Unit Title: Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger Day Title: Discussion & Poetry Lesson Outcome: Students will be able to: o Write a poem based on a prompt o Work together to arrange lyrics Standards: CE 1.1.2 - Know and use a variety of prewriting strategies to generate, focus, and organize ideas. CE 1.1.4 - Compose drafts that convey an impression, express an opinion, raise a question, argue a position, explore a topic, tell a story, or serve another purpose, while simultaneously considering the constraints and possibilities of the selected form or genre. CE 1.2.3 – Write, speak, and create artistic representations to express personal experience and perspective. CE 1.3.1 - Compose written, spoken and/or multimedia compositions in a range of genres: pieces that serve a variety of purposes and that use a variety of organizational patterns. CE 1.5.1 - Use writing, speaking, and visual expression to develop powerful, creative and critical messages. CE 2.1.11 – Demonstrate appropriate social skills of audience, group discussion, or work team behavior by listening attentively and with civility to the ideas of others, gaining the floor in respectful ways, posing appropriate question, and tolerating ambiguity and lack of consensus. Materials Needed: cut up song lyrics, envelopes, desk space, large sheets of study paper Launch: Mixed Up Lyrics 1. Put students into groups of three 2. Hand out envelopes with song lyrics 3. Students need to put the lyrics in an order that makes sense to them 4. Once they have them arranged how they like, they need to glue the lyric strips to a piece of paper 5. Play the song for the students Learning Activity: Questions for students: · Which arrangement do you like better, yours or Ani's? Why? · Why did I have you glue your arrangement down? § "So we couldn't change it" · In Hard Love "change" is linked to "escape" What are some examples from your reading of change? § Top of page 104 Launch: What's in a Name? Play "The Slant" by Ani DiFranco Both Marisol and Diana Tree write about what their names mean. What does John's name mean to him. Why does he chose to use the alias "Giovanni"? Learning Activity: What's in a Name? Students will write about what their name means and/or what their name means to them. If the student doesn't have a story about their name, they can use a relative's name or about a name they wish they had. Assessment: Have students write a paragraph or two about their favorite scene and why. This is their ticket out the door.
"dog coffee" by Ani DiFranco perpetrating counter-culture she is walking through the park first light ugly and more muscular than the dark pushing poems at the urban silence drawing portraits of the passers-by sitting on the curb combining traffic sounds getting dirty looks and dirty jeans on the dirty ground she says i can't figure out what kind of life this is comedy or tragedy i just know it's show biz and what if i don't agree with the lines i have to read they don't pay me enough the way i see it freedom and democracy that's the word from washington every day put america's to sleep with warm milk and clichés and people are expendable along the way your dollar is dependable what more can we say would you like some dog coffee it is all that we've got you can have some you can have not would you like some dog coffee it is all that we've got we're taking care of big business and meanwhile some of the beans rot
"the slant" by Ani DiFranco the slant a building settling around me my figure female framed crookedly in the threshold of the room door scraping floorboards with every opening carving a rough history of bedroom scenes the plot hard to follow the text obscured in the folds of sheets slowly gathering the stains of seasons spent lying there red and brown like leaves fallen the colors of an eternal cycle fading with the wash cycle and the rinse cycle again an unfamiliar smell like my name misspelled or misspoken a cycle broken the sound of them strong stalking talking about their prey like the way hammer meets nail pounding, they say pounding out the rhythms of attraction like a woman was a drum like a body was a weapon like there was something more they wanted than the journey like it was owed to them steel toed they walk and i'm wondering why this fear of men maybe it's because i'm hungry and like a baby i'm dependent on them to feed me i am a work in progress dressed in the fabric of a world unfolding offering me intricate patterns of questions rhythms that never come clean and strengths that you still haven't seen
Day Title: Discussion & Poetry
Lesson Outcome:
Students will be able to:
o Write a poem based on a prompt
o Work together to arrange lyrics
Standards:
CE 1.1.2 - Know and use a variety of prewriting strategies to generate, focus, and organize ideas.
CE 1.1.4 - Compose drafts that convey an impression, express an opinion, raise a question, argue a position, explore a topic, tell a story, or serve another purpose, while simultaneously considering the constraints and possibilities of the selected form or genre.
CE 1.2.3 – Write, speak, and create artistic representations to express personal experience and perspective.
CE 1.3.1 - Compose written, spoken and/or multimedia compositions in a range of genres: pieces that serve a variety of purposes and that use a variety of organizational patterns.
CE 1.5.1 - Use writing, speaking, and visual expression to develop powerful, creative and critical messages.
CE 2.1.11 – Demonstrate appropriate social skills of audience, group discussion, or work team behavior by listening attentively and with civility to the ideas of others, gaining the floor in respectful ways, posing appropriate question, and tolerating ambiguity and lack of consensus.
Materials Needed: cut up song lyrics, envelopes, desk space, large sheets of study paper
Launch: Mixed Up Lyrics
1. Put students into groups of three
2. Hand out envelopes with song lyrics
3. Students need to put the lyrics in an order that makes sense to them
4. Once they have them arranged how they like, they need to glue the lyric strips to a piece of paper
5. Play the song for the students
Learning Activity:
Questions for students:
· Which arrangement do you like better, yours or Ani's? Why?
· Why did I have you glue your arrangement down?
§ "So we couldn't change it"
· In Hard Love "change" is linked to "escape" What are some examples from your reading of change?
§ Top of page 104
Launch: What's in a Name?
Play "The Slant" by Ani DiFranco
Both Marisol and Diana Tree write about what their names mean.
What does John's name mean to him. Why does he chose to use the alias "Giovanni"?
Learning Activity: What's in a Name?
Students will write about what their name means and/or what their name means to them. If the student doesn't have a story about their name, they can use a relative's name or about a name they wish they had.
Assessment:
Have students write a paragraph or two about their favorite scene and why. This is their ticket out the door.
"dog coffee" by Ani DiFranco
perpetrating counter-culture she is walking through the park
first light ugly and more muscular than the dark
pushing poems at the urban silence
drawing portraits of the passers-by
sitting on the curb
combining traffic sounds
getting dirty looks and dirty jeans
on the dirty ground
she says i can't figure out what kind of life this is
comedy or tragedy i just know it's show biz
and what if i don't agree
with the lines i have to read
they don't pay me enough
the way i see it
freedom and democracy
that's the word from washington every day
put america's to sleep
with warm milk and clichés
and people are expendable along the way
your dollar is dependable
what more can we say
would you like some dog coffee
it is all that we've got
you can have some
you can have not
would you like some dog coffee
it is all that we've got
we're taking care of big business
and meanwhile some of the beans rot
"the slant" by Ani DiFranco
the slant
a building settling around me
my figure female framed crookedly
in the threshold
of the room
door scraping floorboards
with every opening
carving a rough history
of bedroom scenes
the plot hard to follow
the text obscured
in the folds of sheets
slowly gathering the stains
of seasons spent lying there
red and brown
like leaves fallen
the colors of an eternal cycle
fading with the
wash cycle
and the rinse cycle
again an unfamiliar smell
like my name misspelled
or misspoken
a cycle broken
the sound of them strong
stalking talking about their prey
like the way hammer meets nail
pounding, they say
pounding out the rhythms of attraction
like a woman was a drum like a body was a weapon
like there was something more they wanted
than the journey
like it was owed to them
steel toed they walk
and i'm wondering why this fear of men
maybe it's because i'm hungry
and like a baby i'm dependent on them
to feed me
i am a work in progress
dressed in the fabric of a world unfolding
offering me intricate patterns of questions
rhythms that never come clean
and strengths that you still haven't seen